After two months of relaxing and doing a bit of freelance work I went back to the cruise ship world. I joined the Island Princess where I went to Aruba, Columbia, bits of Central America, the Panama Canal and Jamaica.
I replaced a photographer that quit so I was well received by the photo staff there. It’s not easy for a team to run while being a person short. This was also the first time I was able to work with an American on the photo team. It was good to have someone from the States. Everyone else was horrible, ha ha. Actually the team was a lot of fun. I made some good friends quickly and I had a good time getting to know the rest of the crew on the ship as well.
The schedule was different since there were more days on the cruise. I went from seven-day cruising to ten-day cruising. It was nice because there were days with more time off to relax. The main difference was the atmosphere on the ship. People were friendly but not many of them showed up to mingle in the crew area after work. At first it was a little quiet for me but eventually I made friends and started have a good time.
It was around this time that things turned around for me. To be honest, I am not a heavy drinker in terms of taking in a lot of alcohol at any given time. I consider myself a social drinker. But because of the type of lifestyle that cruise ships offer, it is easy to be a social drinker and find yourself at the crew bar every night drinking a lot. That is where I found myself after only just a month of being onboard.
I wasn’t getting considerably drunk but I was being consistent at showing up at the bar after work and having a few drinks each night. This combined with the heat of the area, eating too much of the unhealthy options at the buffet and not drinking enough water took its toll on my body.
At first I noticed my shoes were getting tighter but I thought it was from the standing. Then one day after going out in the sun I came back to the ship to find my feet had grown to a point where I had no ankles. That’s when I decided to see the shipboard doctor.
After a blood and urine test it was determined I had a problem with my liver and kidneys. Essentially my liver was being affected by the drinking and my kidneys were leaking protein into my urine resulting in low levels of protein in my blood. I was told to stay away from alcohol and any meat to try and restore balance.
For a while it wasn’t so bad and I was getting better. It was a bit difficult to stay away from meat but I was able to avoid alcohol easily despite going to the crew bar on a regular basis. I grew to like cranberry juice and most people didn’t know I was sober. Don’t know if that is a good thing.
After a month and a half of a new diet my liver was completely healed but my kidneys had leveled off and were still leaking protein. The doctor decided to make an appointment with a specialist in Ft. Lauderdale. When the day came and I saw the specialist it did not go well. When I was done with the consultation I was told I would not be returning to the Island. Through a series of evens it was decided I would return to Tampa and get things sorted there.
I stayed overnight and flew back to Tampa January 20. That is when my struggle to get back on ships began.
*Side note. I did not mention too much about the friends I made but they were a great bunch. I seriously had a great time and grew to make close relationships. I plan to visit many of the people from there in the future. I am trying to keep up with the blog so I decided to only skim the surface on my experiences aboard the Island Princess to explain my medical situation.
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